According to Poll, More Than 50% of American's Have Tried Cannabis

Published
04/17/2017

A new Yahoo-Marist poll was released today, the poll showed that more than half of the American population has tried marijuana at least once in their lives. This poll comes at a futile time in America, as 29 states have legalized cannabis for recreational and/or medicinal purposes. But the federal government still deems cannabis as a Schedule I drug.

The poll found that 52 percent of American adults have tried marijuana at least once in their lives and another 56 percent found that cannabis was socially acceptable. In another study, 8 out of 10 American's strongly support legalizing medicinal marijuana. But the case was switched when talking about recreational marijuana. The poll to legalize recreational marijuana showed a clear divide with forty-nine percent of American adults supporting the legalization of recreational marijuana and 47 percent opposed it.

In 1996, California was the first state to legalize medical marijuana and now twenty-eight states have followed suite, and eight out of the twenty-nine states have passed legislation that legalized the recreational use of marijuana. The poll also found that there still seems to be a stigma attached to smoking marijuana, as 70 percent of pollsters answered that they "believe their parents would be unhappy to learn they were using marijuana recreationally." In contrary, the poll also found that 58 percent of parents think their children would disapprove if they found out their mother or father enjoyed marijuana recreationally. While thirty-nine percent of parents say their children have tried or currently uses marijuana.

This poll released by the collaboration between Yahoo and Marist was a great insight at the current state of opinions for the United State's view on marijuana. Although, it is always important to be wary of where/how information can be acquired by polls, they are also a way to bring together the cannabis industry and the U.S. population as a whole. Several polls have been conducted and the answer is the same; the American public agrees that marijuana should be legalized and should be removed as a Schedule I drug.